Synchronous shared spectrum

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A base station of a first network operator (OP) may determine a priority for the first OP for a transmission opportunity of a shared or unlicensed channel. The priority may be lower than a priority of a second OP for the transmission opportunity. Base station may transmit a tentative grant to a user equipment (UE) of the first OP scheduling transmissions over resources of the transmission opportunity. The transmitting device of the first OP may monitor a contention window for reservation signals communicated by devices of the second OP. Based on the monitoring and the tentative grant, the transmitting device of the first OP may perform the transmission over the resources of the shared or unlicensed channel.

CROSS REFERENCE

The present application for patent claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/700,637 by XUE et al., entitled“SYNCHRONOUS SHARED SPECTRUM,” filed Jul. 19, 2018, assigned to theassignee hereof, and expressly incorporated herein.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide varioustypes of communication content such as voice, video, packet data,messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable ofsupporting communication with multiple users by sharing the availablesystem resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of suchmultiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such asLong Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, orLTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may bereferred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employtechnologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time divisionmultiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA),orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discreteFourier transform-spread-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system mayinclude a number of base stations or network access nodes, eachsimultaneously supporting communication for multiple communicationdevices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).

Some wireless communications systems may operate in a shared orunlicensed radio frequency spectrum band and different medium capturetechniques may be used in order for a device to gain access to theshared or unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band. For example, in somemedium capture techniques, the wireless device (e.g., a base station orUE) may perform contention-based procedures such as a listen-before-talk(LBT) procedure, a clear channel assessment (CCA) procedure, or thelike, on a channel of the shared or unlicensed band in order to capturethe medium for a transmission. When the LBT procedure is unsuccessful(e.g., the channel(s) is/are busy; energy is detected on the channel),the wireless device may perform a backoff procedure where the devicewaits before attempting to capture the medium again. These mediumcapture techniques, however, may result in a lack of fairness in gainingaccess to a shared or unlicensed channel, as well as an increase inoverhead due to stringent signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR)and spatial reuse standards.

In other examples of medium capture techniques, access to a shared orunlicensed channel may be coordinated based on synchronized contention.Network operators (OPs) may attempt to gain access to the shared orunlicensed spectrum based on priorities of the OPs, where each OP mayimplement a contention-based procedure based on a priority associatedwith the OP. However, devices of different OPs that undergo acontention-based procedure may expend valuable resources of the medium,thereby increasing latency and overhead.

SUMMARY

The described techniques relate to improved methods, systems, devices,and apparatuses that support synchronous shared spectrum operations.Generally, the described techniques provide for a tentative granttransmitted by a base station to a user equipment (UE) for apriority-based transmission opportunity (TxOP). For example, the basestation may be associated with a first network operator (OP) that isassigned a priority for accessing a TxOP of the shared spectrum. If thebase station operating according to the first OP gains access to theTxOP over a second device operating according to a second OP of lowerpriority, then the base station may use the TxOP for communicating withone or more other devices or UEs. In some cases, the base station maytransmit a tentative grant to the UE after or during the current TxOPwhere the tentative grant schedules communications between the basestation and the UE over resources of a next TxOP. The transmittingdevice (e.g., the base station or the UE) may, based on the tentativegrant, monitor resources for reservation signals transmitted fromdevices of the second OP that have a higher priority than the first OPduring the next TxOP.

Based on the monitoring, the transmitting device of the first OP maydetermine whether communicating over the resources indicated by thetentative grant will interfere with communications during the secondTxOP based on the monitored reservation signals (e.g., reservationsignals received from devices of the second OP). If the transmittingdevice of the first OP determines that communicating in the TxOP mayinterfere with communications of the second OP, then the transmittingdevice may refrain from communicating. If the transmitting device of thefirst OP determines that communicating in the TxOP may not interferewith communications of the second OP, then the transmitting device maycommunicate over the resources of the TxOP indicated in the tentativegrant. Accordingly, the amount of resources dedicated to reservationsignals (e.g., a contention window size) may be reduced, which mayreduce latency and overhead within a wireless communications system.

A method of wireless communications at a base station associated with afirst network OP is described. The method may include determining aprioritization of the first network OP for a first TxOP and a secondTxOP, where the first network OP is higher priority than a secondnetwork OP during the first TxOP and the second network OP is higherpriority than the first network OP during the second TxOP, transmittinga tentative grant to a UE over a channel of a shared radio frequencyspectrum band using resources within the first TxOP associated withtentative grants based on the determined prioritization, where thetentative grant schedules a downlink data transmission using the channelover a set of resources of the second TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP,monitoring, during a contention window of the second TxOP, for one ormore contention messages from a device associated with the secondnetwork OP, and performing the downlink data transmission based on thetentative grant and a result of the monitoring.

An apparatus for wireless communications at a base station associatedwith a first network OP is described. The apparatus may include aprocessor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, andinstructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable bythe processor to cause the apparatus to determine a prioritization ofthe first network OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the firstnetwork OP is higher priority than a second network OP during the firstTxOP and the second network OP is higher priority than the first networkOP during the second TxOP, transmit a tentative grant to a UE over achannel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band using resources withinthe first TxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules a downlink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP, monitor, during a contention windowof the second TxOP, for one or more contention messages from a deviceassociated with the second network OP, and perform the downlink datatransmission based on the tentative grant and a result of themonitoring.

Another apparatus for wireless communications at a base stationassociated with a first network OP is described. The apparatus mayinclude means for determining a prioritization of the first network OPfor a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the first network OP is higherpriority than a second network OP during the first TxOP and the secondnetwork OP is higher priority than the first network OP during thesecond TxOP, transmitting a tentative grant to a UE over a channel of ashared radio frequency spectrum band using resources within the firstTxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules a downlink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP, monitoring, during a contentionwindow of the second TxOP, for one or more contention messages from adevice associated with the second network OP, and performing thedownlink data transmission based on the tentative grant and a result ofthe monitoring.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wirelesscommunications at a base station associated with a first network OP isdescribed. The code may include instructions executable by a processorto determine a prioritization of the first network OP for a first TxOPand a second TxOP, where the first network OP is higher priority than asecond network OP during the first TxOP and the second network OP ishigher priority than the first network OP during the second TxOP,transmit a tentative grant to a UE over a channel of a shared radiofrequency spectrum band using resources within the first TxOP associatedwith tentative grants based on the determined prioritization, where thetentative grant schedules a downlink data transmission using the channelover a set of resources of the second TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP,monitor, during a contention window of the second TxOP, for one or morecontention messages from a device associated with the second network OP,and perform the downlink data transmission based on the tentative grantand a result of the monitoring.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for determining that thesecond TxOP may be available for communication based on the monitoringand transmitting the downlink data transmission to the UE during thesecond TxOP based on the determination that the second TxOP may beavailable.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for determining that thesecond TxOP may be unavailable for communication based on the monitoringand withholding the downlink data transmission until a next TxOP.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for communicating with asecond UE over resources of the first TxOP and transmitting thetentative grant to the UE after communicating with the second UE.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for gaining access tocommunicate during the first TxOP based on a contention-based procedure,where the tentative grant may be transmitted after gaining access tocommunicate during the first TxOP.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for participating in acoordinated rate control with one or more devices for the first TxOP.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the coordinated rate controlmay be based on a common interference management resource (IMR)configuration.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the coordinated rate controlmay be indicated by a number of coordinated rate control signals.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for transmitting thetentative grant over a reserved symbol within the first TxOP.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, transmitting the tentativegrant may include operations, features, means, or instructions fortransmitting a one-bit indicator field that conveys an indication of thetentative grant.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the tentative grant mayinclude a tentative transmitter identifier (ID), a tentative receiverID, a tentative set of radio resources, a clear channel assessment (CCA)threshold, a plurality of coordinated rate control signals, a rankthreshold, a channel quality indication (CQI) threshold, or hybridautomatic resource request (HARQ) feedback information, or anycombination thereof.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for determining a priorityof the second network OP for the first TxOP and the second TxOP, wheretransmitting the tentative grant may be based on the determined priorityof the second network OP.

A method of wireless communications at a UE is described. The method mayinclude receiving a tentative grant from a base station associated witha first network OP over a channel of a shared radio frequency spectrumband using resources within a first TxOP associated with tentativegrants, where the tentative grant schedules a downlink data transmissionusing the channel over a set of resources of a second TxOP subsequent tothe first TxOP and monitoring the set of resources of the second TxOPfor the downlink data transmission from the base station, where the setof resources is indicated by the tentative grant.

An apparatus for wireless communications at a UE is described. Theapparatus may include a processor, memory in electronic communicationwith the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. Theinstructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatusto receive a tentative grant from a base station associated with a firstnetwork OP over a channel of a shared radio frequency spectrum bandusing resources within a first TxOP associated with tentative grants,where the tentative grant schedules a downlink data transmission usingthe channel over a set of resources of a second TxOP subsequent to thefirst TxOP and monitor the set of resources of the second TxOP for thedownlink data transmission from the base station, where the set ofresources is indicated by the tentative grant.

Another apparatus for wireless communications at a UE is described. Theapparatus may include means for receiving a tentative grant from a basestation associated with a first network OP over a channel of a sharedradio frequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOPassociated with tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules adownlink data transmission using the channel over a set of resources ofa second TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP and monitoring the set ofresources of the second TxOP for the downlink data transmission from thebase station, where the set of resources is indicated by the tentativegrant.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wirelesscommunications at a UE is described. The code may include instructionsexecutable by a processor to receive a tentative grant from a basestation associated with a first network OP over a channel of a sharedradio frequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOPassociated with tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules adownlink data transmission using the channel over a set of resources ofa second TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP and monitor the set ofresources of the second TxOP for the downlink data transmission from thebase station, where the set of resources is indicated by the tentativegrant.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, monitoring the set ofresources may include operations, features, means, or instructions forreceiving the downlink data transmission from the base station duringthe second TxOP based on an availability of the second TxOP.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for determining aprioritization of the first network OP for the first TxOP and the secondTxOP, where the first network OP may be higher priority than a secondnetwork OP during the first TxOP and the second network OP may be higherpriority than the first network OP during the second TxOP.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, receiving the tentative grantmay include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving aone-bit indicator field that conveys an indication of the tentativegrant.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the tentative grant mayinclude a tentative transmitter ID, a tentative receiver ID, a tentativeset of radio resources, a CCA threshold, a plurality of coordinated ratecontrol signals, a rank threshold, a CQI threshold, or HARQ feedbackinformation, or any combination thereof.

A method of wireless communications at a base station associated with afirst network OP is described. The method may include determining aprioritization of the first network OP for a first TxOP and a secondTxOP, where the first network OP is higher priority than a secondnetwork OP during the first TxOP and the second network OP is higherpriority than the first network OP during the second TxOP, transmittinga tentative grant to a UE over a channel of a shared radio frequencyspectrum band using resources within the first TxOP associated withtentative grants based on the determined prioritization, where thetentative grant schedules an uplink data transmission using the channelover a set of resources of the second TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP,and monitoring the set of resources of the second TxOP for the uplinkdata transmission from the UE.

An apparatus for wireless communications at a base station associatedwith a first network OP is described. The apparatus may include aprocessor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, andinstructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable bythe processor to cause the apparatus to determine a prioritization ofthe first network OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the firstnetwork OP is higher priority than a second network OP during the firstTxOP and the second network OP is higher priority than the first networkOP during the second TxOP, transmit a tentative grant to a UE over achannel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band using resources withinthe first TxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules an uplink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP, and monitor the set of resources ofthe second TxOP for the uplink data transmission from the UE.

Another apparatus for wireless communications at a base stationassociated with a first network OP is described. The apparatus mayinclude means for determining a prioritization of the first network OPfor a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the first network OP is higherpriority than a second network OP during the first TxOP and the secondnetwork OP is higher priority than the first network OP during thesecond TxOP, transmitting a tentative grant to a UE over a channel of ashared radio frequency spectrum band using resources within the firstTxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules an uplink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP, and monitoring the set of resourcesof the second TxOP for the uplink data transmission from the UE.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wirelesscommunications at a base station associated with a first network OP isdescribed. The code may include instructions executable by a processorto determine a prioritization of the first network OP for a first TxOPand a second TxOP, where the first network OP is higher priority than asecond network OP during the first TxOP and the second network OP ishigher priority than the first network OP during the second TxOP,transmit a tentative grant to a UE over a channel of a shared radiofrequency spectrum band using resources within the first TxOP associatedwith tentative grants based on the determined prioritization, where thetentative grant schedules an uplink data transmission using the channelover a set of resources of the second TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP,and monitor the set of resources of the second TxOP for the uplink datatransmission from the UE.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, monitoring the set ofresources may include operations, features, means, or instructions forreceiving the uplink data transmission from the UE via the set ofresources of the second TxOP based on an availability of the secondTxOP.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for transmitting thetentative grant over a reserved symbol within the first TxOP.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for determining a priorityof the second network OP for the first TxOP and the second TxOP, wheretransmitting the tentative grant may be based on the determined priorityof the second network OP.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, transmitting the tentativegrant may include operations, features, means, or instructions fortransmitting a one-bit indicator field that conveys an indication of thetentative grant.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the tentative grant mayinclude a tentative transmitter ID, a tentative receiver ID, a tentativeset of radio resources, a CCA threshold, a plurality of coordinated ratecontrol signals, a rank threshold, a CQI threshold, or HARQ feedbackinformation, or any combination thereof.

A method of wireless communications at a UE is described. The method mayinclude receiving a tentative grant from a base station associated witha first network OP over a channel of a shared radio frequency spectrumband using resources within a first TxOP associated with tentativegrants, where the tentative grant schedules an uplink data transmissionusing the channel over a set of resources of a second TxOP subsequent tothe first TxOP, monitoring, during a contention window of the secondTxOP, for one or more contention messages from a device associated witha second network OP, and performing the uplink data transmission basedon the tentative grant and a result of the monitoring.

An apparatus for wireless communications at a UE is described. Theapparatus may include a processor, memory in electronic communicationwith the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. Theinstructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatusto receive a tentative grant from a base station associated with a firstnetwork OP over a channel of a shared radio frequency spectrum bandusing resources within a first TxOP associated with tentative grants,where the tentative grant schedules an uplink data transmission usingthe channel over a set of resources of a second TxOP subsequent to thefirst TxOP, monitor, during a contention window of the second TxOP, forone or more contention messages from a device associated with a secondnetwork OP, and perform the uplink data transmission based on thetentative grant and a result of the monitoring.

Another apparatus for wireless communications at a UE is described. Theapparatus may include means for receiving a tentative grant from a basestation associated with a first network OP over a channel of a sharedradio frequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOPassociated with tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules anuplink data transmission using the channel over a set of resources of asecond TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP, monitoring, during acontention window of the second TxOP, for one or more contentionmessages from a device associated with a second network OP, andperforming the uplink data transmission based on the tentative grant anda result of the monitoring.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wirelesscommunications at a UE is described. The code may include instructionsexecutable by a processor to receive a tentative grant from a basestation associated with a first network OP over a channel of a sharedradio frequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOPassociated with tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules anuplink data transmission using the channel over a set of resources of asecond TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP, monitor, during a contentionwindow of the second TxOP, for one or more contention messages from adevice associated with a second network OP, and perform the uplink datatransmission based on the tentative grant and a result of themonitoring.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for receiving the tentativegrant over a reserved symbol within the first TxOP.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for determining that thesecond TxOP may be available for communication based on the monitoringand transmitting the uplink data transmission to the base station duringthe second TxOP based on the determination that the second TxOP may beavailable.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for determining that thesecond TxOP may be unavailable for communication based on the monitoringand withholding the uplink data transmission until a next TxOP.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, receiving the tentative grantmay include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving aone-bit indicator field that conveys an indication of the tentativegrant.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the tentative grant mayinclude a tentative transmitter ID, a tentative receiver ID, a tentativeset of radio resources, a CCA threshold, a plurality of coordinated ratecontrol signals, a rank threshold, a CQI threshold, or HARQ feedbackinformation, or any combination thereof.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for determining aprioritization of the first network OP for the first TxOP and the secondTxOP, where the first network OP may be higher priority than the secondnetwork OP during the first TxOP and the second network OP may be higherpriority than the first network OP during the second TxOP.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system thatsupports synchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system thatsupports synchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a communication scheme that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a process flow that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a process flow that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show block diagrams of devices that support synchronousshared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of a tentative grant manager that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 9 shows a diagram of a system including a device that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 10 and 11 show block diagrams of devices that support synchronousshared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 shows a block diagram of a tentative grant manager that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 13 shows a diagram of a system including a device that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 14 through 17 show flowcharts illustrating methods that supportsynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some wireless communications systems may operate in a shared orunlicensed radio frequency spectrum band where devices perform acontention-based procedure (e.g., a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure,a clear channel assessment (CCA) procedure, and the like) to capture themedium or channel before performing communication with another wirelessdevice. Some contention-based procedures, however, may be inefficientand may not provide suitable flexibility to the devices for capturingand reserving the medium.

Other wireless communications systems may grant access to the shared orunlicensed radio frequency spectrum band based on synchronizedcontention. Different network operators (OPs) may be granted differentpriorities for access to the medium or channel. Contention windows usedfor reserving the medium may be partitioned based on priorities of theOPs attempting to gain access to the medium (e.g., a highest priority OPcommunicates reservation signals in a first portion of the contentionwindow, a lower priority OP communicates reservation signals in a secondportion of the contention window, etc.). These synchronized contentiontechniques, however, may result in large contention windows toaccommodate the devices of different priorities wishing to communicateover the medium.

Generally, aspects of the described techniques provide for a mechanismwhere low priority devices listen to reservation transmissions from highpriority devices to determine whether to communicate over a shared orunlicensed medium. For example, devices from multiple OPs may attempt togain access to a shared or unlicensed channel. A priority may beprovided to each OP for a given transmission opportunity (TxOP) of thechannel. The priorities of the OPs may alternate for different TxOPs,thereby allowing fairer access to the medium across OPs.

A base station associated with a first OP may transmit a tentative grant(e.g., an uplink or downlink grant) to a UE for communicating over asubsequent TxOP. Prior to the subsequent TxOP, devices associated with asecond OP, which may be of higher priority than the first OP in thesubsequent TxOP, may communicate reservation signals (e.g., areservation request (RRQ) or reservation response message) to reserveresources of the subsequent TxOP. A device associated with the first OP(of lower priority) may be scheduled to transmit during the subsequentTxOP by the tentative grant and may monitor a contention window prior tothe subsequent TxOP for these reservation signals. The transmittingdevice of the first OP may determine whether communicating in the TxOPmay interfere with communications of one or more devices of the secondOP during the subsequent TxOP based on the reservation signals.

Aspects of the disclosure are initially described in the context ofwireless communications systems. Aspects are then described with respectto a communication scheme and process flows. Aspects of the disclosureare further illustrated by and described with reference to apparatusdiagrams, system diagrams, and flowcharts that relate to synchronousshared spectrum.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 100that supports synchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure. The wireless communications system 100 includesbase stations 105, UEs 115, and a core network 130. In some examples,the wireless communications system 100 may be a Long Term Evolution(LTE) network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, an LTE-A Pro network, ora New Radio (NR) network. In some cases, wireless communications system100 may support enhanced broadband communications, ultra-reliable (e.g.,mission critical) communications, low latency communications, orcommunications with low-cost and low-complexity devices.

Base stations 105 may wirelessly communicate with UEs 115 via one ormore base station antennas. Base stations 105 described herein mayinclude or may be referred to by those skilled in the art as a basetransceiver station, a radio base station, an access point, a radiotransceiver, a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB), a next-generation Node B orgiga-NodeB (either of which may be referred to as a gNB), a Home NodeB,a Home eNodeB, or some other suitable terminology. Wirelesscommunications system 100 may include base stations 105 of differenttypes (e.g., macro or small cell base stations). The UEs 115 describedherein may be able to communicate with various types of base stations105 and network equipment including macro eNBs, small cell eNBs, gNBs,relay base stations, and the like.

Each base station 105 may be associated with a particular geographiccoverage area 110 in which communications with various UEs 115 issupported. Each base station 105 may provide communication coverage fora respective geographic coverage area 110 via communication links 125,and communication links 125 between a base station 105 and a UE 115 mayutilize one or more carriers. Communication links 125 shown in wirelesscommunications system 100 may include uplink transmissions from a UE 115to a base station 105, or downlink transmissions from a base station 105to a UE 115. Downlink transmissions may also be called forward linktransmissions while uplink transmissions may also be called reverse linktransmissions.

The geographic coverage area 110 for a base station 105 may be dividedinto sectors making up only a portion of the geographic coverage area110, and each sector may be associated with a cell. For example, eachbase station 105 may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, asmall cell, a hot spot, or other types of cells, or various combinationsthereof. In some examples, a base station 105 may be movable andtherefore provide communication coverage for a moving geographiccoverage area 110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas110 associated with different technologies may overlap, and overlappinggeographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies maybe supported by the same base station 105 or by different base stations105. The wireless communications system 100 may include, for example, aheterogeneous LTE/LTE-A/LTE-A Pro or NR network in which different typesof base stations 105 provide coverage for various geographic coverageareas 110.

The term “cell” refers to a logical communication entity used forcommunication with a base station 105 (e.g., over a carrier), and may beassociated with an identifier for distinguishing neighboring cells(e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier(VCID)) operating via the same or a different carrier. In some examples,a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may beconfigured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-typecommunication (MTC), narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT), enhancedmobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access fordifferent types of devices. In some cases, the term “cell” may refer toa portion of a geographic coverage area 110 (e.g., a sector) over whichthe logical entity operates.

UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout the wireless communications system100, and each UE 115 may be stationary or mobile. A UE 115 may also bereferred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, ahandheld device, or a subscriber device, or some other suitableterminology, where the “device” may also be referred to as a unit, astation, a terminal, or a client. A UE 115 may also be a personalelectronic device such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a personal computer. Insome examples, a UE 115 may also refer to a wireless local loop (WLL)station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Internet of Everything(IoE) device, or an MTC device, or the like, which may be implemented invarious articles such as appliances, vehicles, meters, or the like.

Some UEs 115, such as MTC or IoT devices, may be low cost or lowcomplexity devices, and may provide for automated communication betweenmachines (e.g., via Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication). M2Mcommunication or MTC may refer to data communication technologies thatallow devices to communicate with one another or a base station 105without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communication or MTCmay include communications from devices that integrate sensors or metersto measure or capture information and relay that information to acentral server or application program that can make use of theinformation or present the information to humans interacting with theprogram or application. Some UEs 115 may be designed to collectinformation or enable automated behavior of machines. Examples ofapplications for MTC devices include smart metering, inventorymonitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcaremonitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological eventmonitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing,physical access control, and transaction-based business charging.

Some UEs 115 may be configured to employ operating modes that reducepower consumption, such as half-duplex communications (e.g., a mode thatsupports one-way communication via transmission or reception, but nottransmission and reception simultaneously). In some examples half-duplexcommunications may be performed at a reduced peak rate. Other powerconservation techniques for UEs 115 include entering a power saving“deep sleep” mode when not engaging in active communications, oroperating over a limited bandwidth (e.g., according to narrowbandcommunications). In some cases, UEs 115 may be designed to supportcritical functions (e.g., mission critical functions), and a wirelesscommunications system 100 may be configured to provide ultra-reliablecommunications for these functions.

In some cases, a UE 115 may also be able to communicate directly withother UEs 115 (e.g., using a peer-to-peer (P2P) or device-to-device(D2D) protocol). One or more of a group of UEs 115 utilizing D2Dcommunications may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of a basestation 105. Other UEs 115 in such a group may be outside the geographiccoverage area 110 of a base station 105, or be otherwise unable toreceive transmissions from a base station 105. In some cases, groups ofUEs 115 communicating via D2D communications may utilize a one-to-many(1:M) system in which each UE 115 transmits to every other UE 115 in thegroup. In some cases, a base station 105 facilitates the scheduling ofresources for D2D communications. In other cases, D2D communications arecarried out between UEs 115 without the involvement of a base station105.

Base stations 105 may communicate with the core network 130 and with oneanother. For example, base stations 105 may interface with the corenetwork 130 through backhaul links 132 (e.g., via an S1, N2, N3, orother interface). Base stations 105 may communicate with one anotherover backhaul links 134 (e.g., via an X2, Xn, or other interface) eitherdirectly (e.g., directly between base stations 105) or indirectly (e.g.,via core network 130).

The core network 130 may provide user authentication, accessauthorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and otheraccess, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be anevolved packet core (EPC), which may include at least one mobilitymanagement entity (MME), at least one serving gateway (S-GW), and atleast one Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW). The MME may managenon-access stratum (e.g., control plane) functions such as mobility,authentication, and bearer management for UEs 115 served by basestations 105 associated with the EPC. User IP packets may be transferredthrough the S-GW, which itself may be connected to the P-GW. The P-GWmay provide IP address allocation as well as other functions. The P-GWmay be connected to the network OPs IP services. The OPs IP services mayinclude access to the Internet, Intranet(s), an IP Multimedia Subsystem(IMS), or a Packet-Switched (PS) Streaming Service.

At least some of the network devices, such as a base station 105, mayinclude subcomponents such as an access network entity, which may be anexample of an access node controller (ANC). Each access network entitymay communicate with UEs 115 through a number of other access networktransmission entities, which may be referred to as a radio head, a smartradio head, or a transmission/reception point (TRP). In someconfigurations, various functions of each access network entity or basestation 105 may be distributed across various network devices (e.g.,radio heads and access network controllers) or consolidated into asingle network device (e.g., a base station 105).

Wireless communications system 100 may operate using one or morefrequency bands, typically in the range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz.Generally, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is known as the ultra-highfrequency (UHF) region or decimeter band, since the wavelengths rangefrom approximately one decimeter to one meter in length. UHF waves maybe blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features.However, the waves may penetrate structures sufficiently for a macrocell to provide service to UEs 115 located indoors. Transmission of UHFwaves may be associated with smaller antennas and shorter range (e.g.,less than 100 km) compared to transmission using the smaller frequenciesand longer waves of the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF)portion of the spectrum below 300 MHz.

Wireless communications system 100 may also operate in a super highfrequency (SHF) region using frequency bands from 3 GHz to 30 GHz, alsoknown as the centimeter band. The SHF region includes bands such as the5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands, which may be usedopportunistically by devices that can tolerate interference from otherusers.

Wireless communications system 100 may also operate in an extremely highfrequency (EHF) region of the spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz),also known as the millimeter band. In some examples, wirelesscommunications system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW)communications between UEs 115 and base stations 105, and EHF antennasof the respective devices may be even smaller and more closely spacedthan UHF antennas. In some cases, this may facilitate use of antennaarrays within a UE 115. However, the propagation of EHF transmissionsmay be subject to even greater atmospheric attenuation and shorter rangethan SHF or UHF transmissions. Techniques disclosed herein may beemployed across transmissions that use one or more different frequencyregions, and designated use of bands across these frequency regions maydiffer by country or regulating body.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may utilize bothlicensed and unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example,wireless communications system 100 may employ License Assisted Access(LAA), LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technologyin an unlicensed band such as the 5 GHz ISM band. When operating inunlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands, wireless devices such as basestations 105 and UEs 115 may employ listen-before-talk (LBT) proceduresto ensure a frequency channel is clear before transmitting data. In somecases, operations in unlicensed bands may be based on a carrieraggregation configuration in conjunction with component carriers (CCs)operating in a licensed band (e.g., LAA). Operations in unlicensedspectrum may include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions,peer-to-peer transmissions, or a combination of these. Duplexing inunlicensed spectrum may be based on frequency division duplexing (FDD),time division duplexing (TDD), or a combination of both.

In some examples, base station 105 or UE 115 may be equipped withmultiple antennas, which may be used to employ techniques such astransmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) communications, or beamforming. For example, wirelesscommunications system 100 may use a transmission scheme between atransmitting device (e.g., a base station 105) and a receiving device(e.g., a UE 115), where the transmitting device is equipped withmultiple antennas and the receiving devices are equipped with one ormore antennas. MIMO communications may employ multipath signalpropagation to increase the spectral efficiency by transmitting orreceiving multiple signals via different spatial layers, which may bereferred to as spatial multiplexing. The multiple signals may, forexample, be transmitted by the transmitting device via differentantennas or different combinations of antennas. Likewise, the multiplesignals may be received by the receiving device via different antennasor different combinations of antennas. Each of the multiple signals maybe referred to as a separate spatial stream, and may carry bitsassociated with the same data stream (e.g., the same codeword) ordifferent data streams. Different spatial layers may be associated withdifferent antenna ports used for channel measurement and reporting. MIMOtechniques include single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) where multiple spatiallayers are transmitted to the same receiving device, and multiple-userMIMO (MU-MIMO) where multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multipledevices.

Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering,directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signalprocessing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or areceiving device (e.g., a base station 105 or a UE 115) to shape orsteer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or receive beam) along aspatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device.Beamforming may be achieved by combining the signals communicated viaantenna elements of an antenna array such that signals propagating atparticular orientations with respect to an antenna array experienceconstructive interference while others experience destructiveinterference. The adjustment of signals communicated via the antennaelements may include a transmitting device or a receiving deviceapplying certain amplitude and phase offsets to signals carried via eachof the antenna elements associated with the device. The adjustmentsassociated with each of the antenna elements may be defined by abeamforming weight set associated with a particular orientation (e.g.,with respect to the antenna array of the transmitting device orreceiving device, or with respect to some other orientation).

In one example, a base station 105 may use multiple antennas or antennaarrays to conduct beamforming operations for directional communicationswith a UE 115. For instance, some signals (e.g., synchronizationsignals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other controlsignals) may be transmitted by a base station 105 multiple times indifferent directions, which may include a signal being transmittedaccording to different beamforming weight sets associated with differentdirections of transmission. Transmissions in different beam directionsmay be used to identify (e.g., by the base station 105 or a receivingdevice, such as a UE 115) a beam direction for subsequent transmissionor reception by the base station 105. Some signals, such as data signalsassociated with a particular receiving device, may be transmitted by abase station 105 in a single beam direction (e.g., a directionassociated with the receiving device, such as a UE 115). In someexamples, the beam direction associated with transmissions along asingle beam direction may be determined based at least in part on asignal that was transmitted in different beam directions. For example, aUE 115 may receive one or more of the signals transmitted by the basestation 105 in different directions, and the UE 115 may report to thebase station 105 an indication of the signal it received with a highestsignal quality, or an otherwise acceptable signal quality. Althoughthese techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted inone or more directions by a base station 105, a UE 115 may employsimilar techniques for transmitting signals multiple times in differentdirections (e.g., for identifying a beam direction for subsequenttransmission or reception by the UE 115), or transmitting a signal in asingle direction (e.g., for transmitting data to a receiving device).

A receiving device (e.g., a UE 115, which may be an example of a mmWreceiving device) may try multiple receive beams when receiving varioussignals from the base station 105, such as synchronization signals,reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals. Forexample, a receiving device may try multiple receive directions byreceiving via different antenna subarrays, by processing receivedsignals according to different antenna subarrays, by receiving accordingto different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals receivedat a plurality of antenna elements of an antenna array, or by processingreceived signals according to different receive beamforming weight setsapplied to signals received at a plurality of antenna elements of anantenna array, any of which may be referred to as “listening” accordingto different receive beams or receive directions. In some examples areceiving device may use a single receive beam to receive along a singlebeam direction (e.g., when receiving a data signal). The single receivebeam may be aligned in a beam direction determined based at least inpart on listening according to different receive beam directions (e.g.,a beam direction determined to have a highest signal strength, highestsignal-to-noise ratio, or otherwise acceptable signal quality based atleast in part on listening according to multiple beam directions).

In some cases, the antennas of a base station 105 or UE 115 may belocated within one or more antenna arrays, which may support MIMOoperations, or transmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or morebase station antennas or antenna arrays may be co-located at an antennaassembly, such as an antenna tower. In some cases, antennas or antennaarrays associated with a base station 105 may be located in diversegeographic locations. A base station 105 may have an antenna array witha number of rows and columns of antenna ports that the base station 105may use to support beamforming of communications with a UE 115.Likewise, a UE 115 may have one or more antenna arrays that may supportvarious MIMO or beamforming operations.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may be a packet-basednetwork that operate according to a layered protocol stack. In the userplane, communications at the bearer or Packet Data Convergence Protocol(PDCP) layer may be IP-based. A Radio Link Control (RLC) layer may insome cases perform packet segmentation and reassembly to communicateover logical channels. A Medium Access Control (MAC) layer may performpriority handling and multiplexing of logical channels into transportchannels. The MAC layer may also use hybrid automatic repeat request(HARQ) to provide retransmission at the MAC layer to improve linkefficiency. In the control plane, the Radio Resource Control (RRC)protocol layer may provide establishment, configuration, and maintenanceof an RRC connection between a UE 115 and a base station 105 or corenetwork 130 supporting radio bearers for user plane data. At thePhysical (PHY) layer, transport channels may be mapped to physicalchannels.

In some cases, UEs 115 and base stations 105 may support retransmissionsof data to increase the likelihood that data is received successfully.HARQ feedback is one technique of increasing the likelihood that data isreceived correctly over a communication link 125. HARQ may include acombination of error detection (e.g., using a cyclic redundancy check(CRC)), forward error correction (FEC), and retransmission (e.g.,automatic repeat request (ARQ)). HARQ may improve throughput at the MAClayer in poor radio conditions (e.g., signal-to-noise conditions). Insome cases, a wireless device may support same-slot HARQ feedback, wherethe device may provide HARQ feedback in a specific slot for datareceived in a previous symbol in the slot. In other cases, the devicemay provide HARQ feedback in a subsequent slot, or according to someother time interval.

Time intervals in LTE or NR may be expressed in multiples of a basictime unit, which may, for example, refer to a sampling period ofT_(s)=1/30,720,000 seconds. Time intervals of a communications resourcemay be organized according to radio frames each having a duration of 10milliseconds (ms), where the frame period may be expressed asT_(f)=307,200 T_(s). The radio frames may be identified by a systemframe number (SFN) ranging from 0 to 1023. Each frame may include 10subframes numbered from 0 to 9, and each subframe may have a duration of1 ms. A subframe may be further divided into 2 slots each having aduration of 0.5 ms, and each slot may contain 6 or 7 modulation symbolperiods (e.g., depending on the length of the cyclic prefix prepended toeach symbol period). Excluding the cyclic prefix, each symbol period maycontain 2048 sampling periods. In some cases, a subframe may be thesmallest scheduling unit of the wireless communications system 100, andmay be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI). In othercases, a smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communications system100 may be shorter than a subframe or may be dynamically selected (e.g.,in bursts of shortened TTIs (sTTIs) or in selected CCs using sTTIs).

In some wireless communications systems, a slot may further be dividedinto multiple mini-slots containing one or more symbols. In someinstances, a symbol of a mini-slot or a mini-slot may be the smallestunit of scheduling. Each symbol may vary in duration depending on thesubcarrier spacing or frequency band of operation, for example. Further,some wireless communications systems may implement slot aggregation inwhich multiple slots or mini-slots are aggregated together and used forcommunication between a UE 115 and a base station 105.

The term “carrier” refers to a set of radio frequency spectrum resourceshaving a defined physical layer structure for supporting communicationsover a communication link 125. For example, a carrier of a communicationlink 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band thatis operated according to physical layer channels for a given radioaccess technology. Each physical layer channel may carry user data,control information, or other signaling. A carrier may be associatedwith a pre-defined frequency channel (e.g., an Evolved UniversalTerrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) absolute radio frequency channelnumber (EARFCN)), and may be positioned according to a channel rasterfor discovery by UEs 115. Carriers may be downlink or uplink (e.g., inan FDD mode), or may be configured to carry downlink and uplinkcommunications (e.g., in a TDD mode). In some examples, signal waveformstransmitted over a carrier may be made up of multiple subcarriers (e.g.,using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques such as orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete Fouriertransform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM).

The organizational structure of the carriers may be different fordifferent radio access technologies (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR).For example, communications over a carrier may be organized according toTTIs or slots, each of which may include user data as well as controlinformation or signaling to support decoding the user data. A carriermay also include dedicated acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronizationsignals or system information, etc.) and control signaling thatcoordinates operation for the carrier. In some examples (e.g., in acarrier aggregation configuration), a carrier may also have acquisitionsignaling or control signaling that coordinates operations for othercarriers.

Physical channels may be multiplexed on a carrier according to varioustechniques. A physical control channel and a physical data channel maybe multiplexed on a downlink carrier, for example, using time divisionmultiplexing (TDM) techniques, frequency division multiplexing (FDM)techniques, or hybrid TDM-FDM techniques. In some examples, controlinformation transmitted in a physical control channel may be distributedbetween different control regions in a cascaded manner (e.g., between acommon control region or common search space and one or more UE-specificcontrol regions or UE-specific search spaces).

A carrier may be associated with a particular bandwidth of the radiofrequency spectrum, and in some examples the carrier bandwidth may bereferred to as a “system bandwidth” of the carrier or the wirelesscommunications system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth may be oneof a number of predetermined bandwidths for carriers of a particularradio access technology (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 MHz). Insome examples, each served UE 115 may be configured for operating overportions or all of the carrier bandwidth. In other examples, some UEs115 may be configured for operation using a narrowband protocol typethat is associated with a predefined portion or range (e.g., set ofsubcarriers or resource blocks (RBs)) within a carrier (e.g., “in-band”deployment of a narrowband protocol type).

In a system employing MCM techniques, a resource element may consist ofone symbol period (e.g., a duration of one modulation symbol) and onesubcarrier, where the symbol period and subcarrier spacing may beinversely related. The number of bits carried by each resource elementmay depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulationscheme). Thus, the more resource elements that a UE 115 receives and thehigher the order of the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate maybe for the UE 115. In MIMO systems, a wireless communications resourcemay refer to a combination of a radio frequency spectrum resource, atime resource, and a spatial resource (e.g., spatial layers), and theuse of multiple spatial layers may further increase the data rate forcommunications with a UE 115.

Devices of the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., base stations105 or UEs 115) may have a hardware configuration that supportscommunications over a particular carrier bandwidth, or may beconfigurable to support communications over one of a set of carrierbandwidths. In some examples, the wireless communications system 100 mayinclude base stations 105 or UEs 115 that may support simultaneouscommunications via carriers associated with more than one differentcarrier bandwidth.

Wireless communications system 100 may support communication with a UE115 on multiple cells or carriers, a feature which may be referred to ascarrier aggregation or multi-carrier operation. A UE 115 may beconfigured with multiple downlink CCs and one or more uplink CCsaccording to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregationmay be used with both FDD and TDD CCs.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may utilize enhancedCCs (eCCs). An eCC may be characterized by one or more featuresincluding wider carrier or frequency channel bandwidth, shorter symbolduration, shorter TTI duration, or modified control channelconfiguration. In some cases, an eCC may be associated with a carrieraggregation configuration or a dual connectivity configuration (e.g.,when multiple serving cells have a suboptimal or non-ideal backhaullink). An eCC may also be configured for use in unlicensed spectrum orshared spectrum (e.g., where more than one OP is allowed to use thespectrum). An eCC characterized by wide carrier bandwidth may includeone or more segments that may be utilized by UEs 115 that are notcapable of monitoring the whole carrier bandwidth or are otherwiseconfigured to use a limited carrier bandwidth (e.g., to conserve power).

In some cases, an eCC may utilize a different symbol duration than otherCCs, which may include use of a reduced symbol duration as compared withsymbol durations of the other CCs. A shorter symbol duration may beassociated with increased spacing between adjacent subcarriers. Adevice, such as a UE 115 or base station 105, utilizing eCCs maytransmit wideband signals (e.g., according to frequency channel orcarrier bandwidths of 20, 40, 60, 80 MHz, etc.) at reduced symboldurations (e.g., 16.67 microseconds (μs)). A TTI in eCC may consist ofone or multiple symbol periods. In some cases, the TTI duration (thatis, the number of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable.

Wireless communications systems such as an NR system may utilize anycombination of licensed, shared, and unlicensed spectrum bands, amongothers. The flexibility of eCC symbol duration and subcarrier spacingmay allow for the use of eCC across multiple spectrums. In someexamples, NR shared spectrum may increase spectrum utilization andspectral efficiency, specifically through dynamic vertical (e.g., acrossthe frequency domain) and horizontal (e.g., across the time domain)sharing of resources.

A base station 105 of a first OP may determine a priority for the firstOP during a TxOP of a shared or unlicensed channel. The priority may belower than a priority of a second OP for the TxOP. Base station 105 maytransmit a tentative grant to a UE 115 (prior to the TxOP) to schedulecommunications between the base station 105 and the UE 115 overresources of the TxOP. The transmitting device of the first OP (e.g.,either base station 105 of a first OP or UE 115 of the first OP) maymonitor a contention window of the TxOP for reservation signalscommunicated by devices attempting to access the TxOP, which may bedevices associated with the second OP. The reservation signals mayreserve resources of the shared or unlicensed channel. If thetransmitting device of the first OP determines that communicating overthe shared or unlicensed channel may interfere with communications ofthe devices that have gained access to the TxOP (e.g., based oninformation indicated by the reservation signals), the transmittingdevice may refrain from communicating over the resources indicated bythe tentative grant. If the transmitting device of the first OPdetermines that communicating over the shared or unlicensed channel maynot interfere with communications of the devices that have gained accessto the TxOP (e.g., based on information indicated by the reservationsignals), the transmitting device may communicate in accordance with thetentative grant (e.g., the transmitting device may transmit overresources of the shared or unlicensed channel indicated by the tentativegrant).

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 200that supports synchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure. In some examples, wireless communications system200 may implement aspects of wireless communications system 100.Wireless communications system 200 may include a base station 105-a, abase station 105-b, a UE 115-a, and a UE 115-b. Wireless communicationssystem 200 may be a heterogeneous system that includes different OPs.For example, base station 105-a and UE 115-a may belong to a first OP.Base station 105-b and UE 115-b may belong to a second OP. Althoughshown as separate entities, base station 105-a and base station 105-bmay be co-located (e.g., multiple OPs may be supported by an individualbase station 105). Additionally or alternatively, UE 115-a and UE 115-bmay also be co-located (e.g., an individual UE 115 may support multipleOPs).

Base stations 105 and UEs 115 of different OPs may attempt to gainaccess to a shared or unlicensed channel. For example, devices of afirst OP (e.g., base station 105-a and UE 115-a) may contend for accessto the same shared or unlicensed channel as devices of a second OP(e.g., base station 105-b and UE 115-b). However, as resources of thechannel are limited, issues may arise concerning fairness of access aswell as overhead and latency associated with contention techniques foraccess to the channel.

In some examples, devices of the first and second OP may have differentpriorities for accessing the shared or unlicensed channel. Prioritiesmay be assigned on a TxOP basis for the channel. The priorities may beprovided by a packet core element (e.g., an MME), or the like, to basestations 105 of the wireless communications system 200. The basestations 105 may, in turn, communicate the priorities of one or more OPsto the UEs 115 of the wireless communications system 200. In someaspects, priorities may alternate between OPs of the wirelesscommunications system 200 for a given TxOP. For example, devices of afirst OP may have a higher priority for a first TxOP of the channel, andmay have a lower priority for a subsequent TxOP for the channel.Similarly, devices of a second OP may have a lower priority for thefirst TxOP and a higher priority for the subsequent TxOP.

Devices of an OP with a high priority may have a preferential attempt ataccessing the channel during a given TxOP. For example, base station105-a and UE 115-a may have a higher priority than base station 105-band UE 115-b for a first TxOP. As such, the transmitting deviceassociated with the higher priority (e.g., either base station 105-a orUE 115-a) may implement a contention-based technique to gain access tothe channel. For example, base station 105-a may have downlinkcommunications scheduled for UE 115-a. Base station 105-a may transmitan RRQ in a contention window over communication link 205 to the UE115-a in order to reserve resources of the channel. UE 115-a may respondwith a reservation response (RRS) in the contention window overcommunication link 205 acknowledging the reservation of the resources.Base station 105-a may then transmit downlink data to UE 115-a over thereserved resources via communication link 210. In some cases, thereservation signals (e.g., RRQ and RRS) may be examples of signalingthat a transmitting device may monitor a channel for and such signalsmay be examples of request to send (RTS) or clear to send (CTS)signaling.

In another example, UE 115-a may have uplink communications scheduledfor base station 105-a. UE 115-a may transmit an RRQ in the contentionwindow over communication link 205 to base station 105-a to reserveresources of the channel. Base station 105-a may respond with an RRS inthe contention window over communication link 205 acknowledging thereservation of the resources. UE 115-a may then transmit uplink data viacommunication link 210 to base station 105-a over the reservedresources.

Communications of lower priority devices over the shared or unlicensedchannel may be defer communications in a TxOP based on scheduledcommunications of higher priority devices. For example, UE 115-b mayhave uplink data queued for transmitting to base station 105-b. As theOP of base station 105-b and UE 115-b may have a lower priority than theOP of base station 105-a and UE 115-a during the TxOP, base station105-b may transmit a tentative grant 215 to UE 115-b for communicatingthe queued data over resources of the channel. The communicationsscheduled by the tentative grant 215 may be subject to whether thescheduled communications may interfere with communications scheduled byhigher priority devices (e.g., base station 105-a and UE 115-a) over theshared or unlicensed channel.

In other examples, devices that have gained access to the TxOP may havefurther data to communicate and may utilize a tentative grant 215 aftercommunicating during the TxOP. For example, base station 105-a may winaccess to the shared channel during the TxOP and may communicate with UE115-a. At an end of the TxOP, base station 105-a may transmit atentative grant 215 to UE 115-a or another UE 115, the tentative grant215 scheduling an uplink or downlink transmission in a subsequent TxOP(e.g., a TxOP in which the first OP has lower priority than the secondOP). In such instances, the transmitting device (e.g., the base station105-a for a downlink grant or the UE 115-a (or another UE 115) for anuplink grant) may monitor a contention window of the subsequent TxOP todetermine whether to perform the uplink or downlink transmission duringresources of the subsequent TxOP indicated by the tentative grant 215.

A transmitting device with a lower priority OP may monitor reservationsignals of the higher priority devices. In the above example, UE 115-bmay monitor reservation signals transmitted by devices with a higherpriority OP, for example, RRQ and RRS transmitted in the contentionwindow over communication link 205 by base station 105-a and UE 115-a.In some cases, the monitoring may be a CCA, and received powerthresholds of the CCA may be indicated in control information (e.g.,downlink control information (DCI) or in a MAC control element(MAC-CE)). Additionally or alternatively, the contention window may be asymbol in length. If the communications scheduled by the tentative grant215 interfere with communications scheduled by the monitored reservationsignals, UE 115-b may refrain from communicating over the channel. Ifthe communications scheduled by the tentative grant 215 do not interferewith communications scheduled by the monitored reservation signals, UE115-b may transmit the queued uplink data over communication link 220using the channel.

The tentative grant 215 may schedule either uplink or downlinkcommunications. In some examples, the tentative grant 215 schedulesdownlink communications. However, it should be noted that the tentativegrant 215 may also schedule uplink communications. In some examples, UE115-b may monitor the contention window over communication link 205 forRRQ or RRS. In such examples, UE 115-b may then determine whethercommunicating over the shared channel will interfere with communicationsof devices from the first OP.

As low priority devices may not communicate reservation signals, thetechniques described herein may allow for contention windows having asize below a threshold (e.g., a minimization of contention windows) andtherefore may decrease overhead and latency in the wirelesscommunications system 200 (e.g., by 64 μs of overhead). Further,alternating priorities for different TxOPs in the channel may allow fora fairer distribution of access to the channel.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a communication scheme 300 thatsupports synchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of thepresent disclosure. In some examples, communication scheme 300 mayimplement aspects of wireless communications system 100 or 200.Communication scheme 300 may be include communications between a basestation and a UE of a first OP, and between a base station and a UE of asecond OP, which may be examples of the respective devices as describedherein.

Priority for different TxOPs in the communication scheme 300 may bebased on associated OPs. For example, a first OP may be of higherpriority than a second OP for the first TxOP 320. Priorities may switch,however, for the second TxOP 345. Following the above example, the firstOP may have a low priority and the second OP may have a high priorityfor the second TxOP 345. Priorities may be further determined asdiscussed with reference to FIG. 2 and additional OPs may be supportedhaving priorities relative to the first and second OPs in given TxOPs.

A high priority OP device may have data transmissions pending and maywish to access the channel during the first TxOP 320. For example,either first OP base station or first OP UE may have data communicationsqueued for transmission. The first OP device with queued datacommunications may transmit an RRQ in an RRQ window 305 to the first OPreceiving device. The RRQ may indicate resources of a shared orunlicensed channel to use for transmitting the queued data. The first OPreceiving device may respond by transmitting an RRS in an RRS window 310to the first OP transmitting device. The RRS may act as anacknowledgement or as authorization to transmit the queued data. Boththe RRQ window 305 and the RRS window 310 may each be one symbol inlength (or may vary in length), and the combination of the RRQ window305 and the RRS window 310 may be referred to as a contention window.

Devices that won access to the first TxOP 320 may implement acoordinated rate control (RC) procedure. For example, first OP basestation and first OP UE may transmit coordinated RC signals in acoordinated RC window 315 after communicating the RRQ and the RRS. Insome examples, the coordinated RC signals may be pilot sequences. Thecoordinated RC signals may be communicated between first OP base stationand first OP UE (and other devices including lower priority devices thathave won contention to the channel during first TxOP 320), and may beused to determine or coordinate modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) forthe data to be communicated during the first TxOP 320. In some cases,the coordinated RC procedure is based on a common interferencemanagement resource (IMR) configuration. In some cases, the IMRconfiguration may be blank (e.g., resources may be left blank to reduceinterference) and receivers from the high priority OP may be protectedby an associated CCA threshold (e.g., 72 dBm). The first OP transmittingdevice may then transmit the data communications in the first TxOP 320and over the resources of the shared or unlicensed channel indicated inthe RRQ or RRS.

In some cases, the first OP transmitting device may detect thecoordinated RC signals (e.g., pilot sequences) transmitted from atentative transmitting device, where the coordinated RC signals mayindicate RC information (e.g., for estimating interference from IMR). Inaddition, the coordinated RC signals may indicate that the tentativetransmitting device has performed LBT.

In some cases, the first OP base station may determine that additionalcommunications are pending after communicating over the first TxOP 320.For example, the resources to communicate in the first TxOP 320 may beinadequate to transmit the entirety of the queued data, or newcommunications may be queued subsequent to the transmission of RRQ andRRS. In such instances, the first OP base station may transmit atentative grant 325 to the first OP UE (which may be different from orthe same as the UE that received the data communications during thefirst TxOP). The tentative grant 325 may be transmitted usingtime-frequency resources of the first TxOP 320 or may be transmittedsubsequent to the first TxOP. In some examples, the tentative grant 325may be one symbol reserved in the first TxOP 320. The tentative grant325 may indicate, to the first OP UE, resources of the second TxOP 345that may be used for transmission of the additional pending data.Additionally or alternatively, the tentative grant 325 may include anidentification field (e.g., a one-bit field) which may indicate that thetentative grant 325 is tentative and subject to transmission of otherdevices during the second TxOP 345. That is, the tentative grant 325 mayinclude an indication that it is not an explicit grant for resourcesduring the second TxOP 345 (e.g., the tentative grant 325 may indicatethat the first OP has a low priority for the second TxOP 345).

In some cases, the device receiving the tentative grant 325 maydetermine that the tentative grant 325 is voided by the tentativetransmitting device, and may not transmit HARQ feedback information(e.g., a HARQ feedback response such as an acknowledgement (ACK) ornegative ACK (NACK)).

The first OP transmitting device may then monitor the RRQ window 330 orthe RRS window 335 for the second TxOP 345. Since the second OP may havehigher priority for the second TxOP 345, devices of the second OP mayattempt to gain access to the channel by transmitting RRQ and RRS in RRQwindow 330 and RRS window 335, respectively. As the first OP may have alower priority for the second TxOP 345, the first OP transmitting devicemay monitor for RRQ or RRS to determine whether communicating over thesecond TxOP 345 will interfere with communications of devices associatedwith the higher priority OP. For example, the first OP transmittingdevice may perform a CCA procedure during the RRQ window 330 and the RRSwindow 335. If the first OP transmitting device determines thatcommunicating in the second TxOP 345 will not interfere with highpriority communications, then the first OP transmitting device maytransmit coordinated RC signals in the coordinated RC window 340 todetermine an MCS for transmissions in the second TxOP 345. The first OPtransmitting device may then transmit the pending data over the secondTxOP 345 via resources indicated in the tentative grant 325. The firstOP receiving device may monitor, and subsequently receive the pendingcommunications over the resources indicated in the tentative grant 325.

If the first OP transmitting device determines that communicating in thesecond TxOP 345 will interfere with high priority communications, thenthe first OP transmitting device may refrain from transmitting thefurther pending communications. In some cases, the first OP transmittingdevice may wait for another TxOP associated with the first TxOP 320(e.g., where the first OP has a high priority).

In some examples, the second OP base station may determine thatcommunications are further pending after the second TxOP 345. The secondOP base station may transmit a tentative grant 350 to the second OP UEfor another TxOP subsequent to the second TxOP 345. The tentative grant350 may be within resources of the second TxOP 345. The tentative grant350 may indicate to the second OP UE of resources of the another TxOPthat may be used for transmission of pending data.

In some examples, the tentative grants 325, 350 may include additionalinformation used in communications. For example, the tentative grants325, 350 may include identification information, such as the tentativetransmitter ID and the tentative receiver ID. The tentative grants 325,350 may additionally or alternatively include tentative radio resourcesfor data transmission, a CCA threshold, a number of pilot sequences(e.g., the number of pilot sequences defined as a tentative rank), theIMR (e.g., for RC), and HARQ feedback information (e.g., when to sendACK/NACK feedback).

In addition, the tentative grants 325, 350 may include a thresholdrank/CQI for data transmission. A tentative receiving device maytransmit feedback to a tentative transmitting device, where the feedbackmay include information such as an indication of portions of thetentative radio resources that satisfy the rank/CQI threshold. In caseswhere the tentative receiving device does not transmit feedback to thetentative transmitting device, the tentative transmitting device maydetermine that one or more of the tentative grants 325, 350 may bevoided by the tentative receiving device. In some cases, the tentativetransmitting device may transmit data over the tentative radio resourcesallocated for the feedback of the tentative receiving device.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a process flow 400 that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure. In some examples, process flow 400 may implement aspects ofwireless communications systems 100 or 200 and may supportcommunications according to a communication scheme 300. Process flow 400may include a base station 105-c associated with a first network OP anda UE 115-c, which may be examples of the corresponding devices describedherein.

At 405, base station 105-c may determine a prioritization of the firstnetwork OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP. The first network OP mayhave a higher priority than a second network OP during the first TxOPand the second network OP may have a higher priority than the firstnetwork OP during the second TxOP.

At 410, base station 105-c may transmit, and UE 115-c may receive, atentative grant based at least in part on the determined prioritization.The tentative grant may be transmitted over a channel of a shared radiofrequency spectrum band using resources within the first TxOP associatedwith tentative grants. The tentative grant may schedule a downlink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP.

At 415, base station 105-c may monitor, during a contention window ofthe second TxOP, for one or more contention messages from a deviceassociated with the second network OP.

At 420, UE 115-c may monitor the set of resources of the second TxOP forthe downlink data transmission from the base station. The set ofresources monitored by UE 115-c may be indicated by the tentative grant.

At 425, base station 105-c may perform the downlink data transmissionbased at least in part on the tentative grant and a result of themonitoring for one or more contention messages.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a process flow 500 that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure. In some examples, process flow 500 may implement aspects ofwireless communications systems 100 or 200 and may implementcommunication scheme 300. Process flow 500 may include a base station105-d associated with a first network OP and a UE 115-d, each of whichmay be examples of the corresponding devices described herein.

At 505, base station 105-d may determine a prioritization of the firstnetwork OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP. The first network OP mayhave a higher priority than a second network OP during the first TxOPand the second network OP may have a higher priority than the firstnetwork OP during the second TxOP.

At 510, base station 105-d may transmit, and UE 115-d may receive, atentative grant based at least in part on the determined prioritization.The tentative grant may be transmitted over a channel of a shared radiofrequency spectrum band using resources within the first TxOP associatedwith tentative grants. The tentative grant may schedule an uplink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP.

At 515, UE 115-d may monitor, during a contention window of the secondTxOP, for one or more contention messages from a device associated withthe second network OP.

At 520, base station 105-d may monitor the set of resources of thesecond TxOP for the uplink data transmission from the base station. Theset of resources monitored by base station 105-d may be indicated by thetentative grant.

At 525, UE 115-d may perform the uplink data transmission based at leastin part on the tentative grant and a result of the monitoring for one ormore contention messages.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram 600 of a device 605 that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure. The device 605 may be an example of aspects of a UE 115 asdescribed herein. The device 605 may include a receiver 610, a tentativegrant manager 615, and a transmitter 620. The device 605 may alsoinclude a processor. Each of these components may be in communicationwith one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

The receiver 610 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to synchronousshared spectrum, etc.). Information may be passed on to other componentsof the device 605. The receiver 610 may be an example of aspects of thetransceiver 920 described with reference to FIG. 9. The receiver 610 mayutilize a single antenna or a set of antennas.

The tentative grant manager 615 may receive a tentative grant from abase station associated with a first network OP over a channel of ashared radio frequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOPassociated with tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules adownlink data transmission using the channel over a set of resources ofa second TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP and monitor the set ofresources of the second TxOP for the downlink data transmission from thebase station, where the set of resources is indicated by the tentativegrant.

The tentative grant manager 615 may also receive a tentative grant froma base station associated with a first network OP over a channel of ashared radio frequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOPassociated with tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules anuplink data transmission using the channel over a set of resources of asecond TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP, monitor, during a contentionwindow of the second TxOP, for one or more contention messages from adevice associated with a second network OP, and perform the uplink datatransmission based on the tentative grant and a result of themonitoring. The tentative grant manager 615 may be an example of aspectsof the tentative grant manager 910 described herein.

The tentative grant manager 615, or its sub-components, may beimplemented in hardware, code (e.g., software or firmware) executed by aprocessor, or any combination thereof. If implemented in code executedby a processor, the functions of the tentative grant manager 615, or itssub-components may be executed by a general-purpose processor, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmablelogic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardwarecomponents, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functionsdescribed in the present disclosure.

The tentative grant manager 615, or its sub-components, may bephysically located at various positions, including being distributedsuch that portions of functions are implemented at different physicallocations by one or more physical components. In some examples, thetentative grant manager 615, or its sub-components, may be a separateand distinct component in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. In some cases, the tentative grant manager 615, or itssub-components, may be combined with one or more other hardwarecomponents, including but not limited to an input/output (I/O)component, a transceiver, a network server, another computing device,one or more other components described in the present disclosure, or acombination thereof in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure.

The transmitter 620 may transmit signals generated by other componentsof the device 605. In some examples, the transmitter 620 may becollocated with a receiver 610 in a transceiver module. For example, thetransmitter 620 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 920described with reference to FIG. 9. The transmitter 620 may utilize asingle antenna or a set of antennas.

In some examples, tentative grant manager 615 may be implemented as anintegrated circuit or chipset for a mobile device modem, and thereceiver 610 and transmitter 620 may be implemented as analog components(e.g., amplifiers, filters, antennas, etc.) coupled with the mobiledevice modem to enable wireless transmission and reception.

The tentative grant manager 615 as described herein may be implementedto realize one or more potential advantages. Various implementations mayreduce the latency and overhead associated with contention-basedprocedures used to gain access to a shared or unlicensed spectrum bandfor communications. As a result, a device may reduce its powerconsumption, and user experience may be improved. In one example,tentative grant manager 615 may schedule a transmission using atentative grant based on the priorities of a number of othertransmissions in the network. In some cases, the tentative grant mayprovide improved flexibility for capturing and reserving a channel usedfor communication. The tentative grant may also provide fair channelaccess for devices in cases where transmission priorities for thedevices vary for different TxOPs.

Based on implementing the contention-based techniques described herein,one or more processors of the device 605 (e.g., processor(s) controllingor incorporated with one or more of receiver 610, communications manager615, and transmitter 620) may reduce an amount of time to effectivelycapture a channel and communicate over an allocated TxOP.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram 700 of a device 705 that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure. The device 705 may be an example of aspects of a device 605or a UE 115 as described herein. The device 705 may include a receiver710, a tentative grant manager 715, and a transmitter 735. The device705 may also include a processor. Each of these components may be incommunication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

The receiver 710 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to synchronousshared spectrum, etc.). Information may be passed on to other componentsof the device 705. The receiver 710 may be an example of aspects of thetransceiver 920 described with reference to FIG. 9. The receiver 710 mayutilize a single antenna or a set of antennas.

The tentative grant manager 715 may be an example of aspects of thetentative grant manager 615 as described herein. The tentative grantmanager 715 may include a grant receiver 720, a monitor 725, and anuplink transmission component 730. The tentative grant manager 715 maybe an example of aspects of the tentative grant manager 910 describedherein.

The grant receiver 720 may receive a tentative grant from a base stationassociated with a first network OP over a channel of a shared radiofrequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOP associatedwith tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules a downlinkdata transmission using the channel over a set of resources of a secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP.

The monitor 725 may monitor the set of resources of the second TxOP forthe downlink data transmission from the base station, where the set ofresources is indicated by the tentative grant.

The grant receiver 720 may receive a tentative grant from a base stationassociated with a first network OP over a channel of a shared radiofrequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOP associatedwith tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules an uplinkdata transmission using the channel over a set of resources of a secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP.

The monitor 725 may monitor, during a contention window of the secondTxOP, for one or more contention messages from a device associated witha second network OP.

The uplink transmission component 730 may perform the uplink datatransmission based on the tentative grant and a result of themonitoring.

The transmitter 735 may transmit signals generated by other componentsof the device 705. In some examples, the transmitter 735 may becollocated with a receiver 710 in a transceiver module. For example, thetransmitter 735 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 920described with reference to FIG. 9. The transmitter 735 may utilize asingle antenna or a set of antennas.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram 800 of a tentative grant manager 805 thatsupports synchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of thepresent disclosure. The tentative grant manager 805 may be an example ofaspects of a tentative grant manager 615, a tentative grant manager 715,or a tentative grant manager 910 described herein. The tentative grantmanager 805 may include a grant receiver 810, a monitor 815, a downlinkreception component 820, a priority component 825, and an uplinktransmission component 830. Each of these modules may communicate,directly or indirectly, with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

The grant receiver 810 may receive a tentative grant from a base stationassociated with a first network OP over a channel of a shared radiofrequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOP associatedwith tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules a downlinkdata transmission using the channel over a set of resources of a secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP.

In some examples, the grant receiver 810 may receive a tentative grantfrom a base station associated with a first network OP over a channel ofa shared radio frequency spectrum band using resources within a firstTxOP associated with tentative grants, where the tentative grantschedules an uplink data transmission using the channel over a set ofresources of a second TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP. In some cases,the grant receiver 810 may receive a one-bit indicator field thatconveys an indication of the tentative grant. In some aspects, the grantreceiver 810 may receive the tentative grant over a reserved symbolwithin the first TxOP.

The monitor 815 may monitor the set of resources of the second TxOP forthe downlink data transmission from the base station, where the set ofresources is indicated by the tentative grant. In some examples, themonitor 815 may monitor, during a contention window of the second TxOP,for one or more contention messages from a device associated with asecond network OP. In some cases, the monitor 815 may determine that thesecond TxOP is available for communication based on the monitoring. Insome aspects, the monitor 815 may determine that the second TxOP isunavailable for communication based on the monitoring.

The uplink transmission component 830 may perform the uplink datatransmission based on the tentative grant and a result of themonitoring. In some examples, the uplink transmission component 830 maytransmit the uplink data transmission to the base station during thesecond TxOP based on the determination that the second TxOP isavailable. In some cases, the uplink transmission component 830 maywithhold the uplink data transmission until a next TxOP.

The downlink reception component 820 may receive the downlink datatransmission from the base station during the second TxOP based on anavailability of the second TxOP.

The priority component 825 may determine a prioritization of the firstnetwork OP for the first TxOP and the second TxOP, where the firstnetwork OP is higher priority than a second network OP during the firstTxOP and the second network OP is higher priority than the first networkOP during the second TxOP. In some examples, the priority component 825may determine a prioritization of the first network OP for the firstTxOP and the second TxOP, where the first network OP is higher prioritythan the second network OP during the first TxOP and the second networkOP is higher priority than the first network OP during the second TxOP.

FIG. 9 shows a diagram of a system 900 including a device 905 thatsupports synchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of thepresent disclosure. The device 905 may be an example of or include thecomponents of device 605, device 705, or a UE 115 as described herein.The device 905 may include components for bi-directional voice and datacommunications including components for transmitting and receivingcommunications, including a tentative grant manager 910, an I/Ocontroller 915, a transceiver 920, an antenna 925, memory 930, and aprocessor 940. These components may be in electronic communication viaone or more buses (e.g., bus 945).

The tentative grant manager 910 may receive a tentative grant from abase station associated with a first network OP over a channel of ashared radio frequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOPassociated with tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules adownlink data transmission using the channel over a set of resources ofa second TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP and monitor the set ofresources of the second TxOP for the downlink data transmission from thebase station, where the set of resources is indicated by the tentativegrant.

The tentative grant manager 910 may also receive a tentative grant froma base station associated with a first network OP over a channel of ashared radio frequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOPassociated with tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules anuplink data transmission using the channel over a set of resources of asecond TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP, monitor, during a contentionwindow of the second TxOP, for one or more contention messages from adevice associated with a second network OP, and perform the uplink datatransmission based on the tentative grant and a result of themonitoring.

The I/O controller 915 may manage input and output signals for thedevice 905. The I/O controller 915 may also manage peripherals notintegrated into the device 905. In some cases, the I/O controller 915may represent a physical connection or port to an external peripheral.In some cases, the I/O controller 915 may utilize an operating systemsuch as iOS®, ANDROID®, MS-DOS®, MS-WINDOWS®, OS/2®, UNIX®, LINUX®, oranother known operating system. In other cases, the I/O controller 915may represent or interact with a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, atouchscreen, or a similar device. In some cases, the I/O controller 915may be implemented as part of a processor. In some cases, a user mayinteract with the device 905 via the I/O controller 915 or via hardwarecomponents controlled by the I/O controller 915.

The transceiver 920 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or moreantennas, wired, or wireless links as described herein. For example, thetransceiver 920 may represent a wireless transceiver and may communicatebi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 920may also include a modem to modulate the packets and provide themodulated packets to the antennas for transmission, and to demodulatepackets received from the antennas.

In some cases, the wireless device may include a single antenna 925.However, in some cases the device may have more than one antenna 925,which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiplewireless transmissions.

The memory 930 may include random access memory (RAM) and read onlymemory (ROM). The memory 930 may store computer-readable,computer-executable code 935 including instructions that, when executed,cause the processor to perform various functions described herein. Insome cases, the memory 930 may contain, among other things, a basic I/Osystem (BIOS) which may control basic hardware or software operationsuch as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.

The processor 940 may include an intelligent hardware device (e.g., ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, a central processing unit (CPU), amicrocontroller, an ASIC, an FPGA, a programmable logic device, adiscrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardwarecomponent, or any combination thereof). In some cases, the processor 940may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller.In other cases, a memory controller may be integrated into the processor940. The processor 940 may be configured to execute computer-readableinstructions stored in a memory (e.g., the memory 930) to cause thedevice 905 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or taskssupporting synchronous shared spectrum).

The code 935 may include instructions to implement aspects of thepresent disclosure, including instructions to support wirelesscommunications. The code 935 may be stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium such as system memory or other type of memory.In some cases, the code 935 may not be directly executable by theprocessor 940 but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled andexecuted) to perform functions described herein.

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram 1000 of a device 1005 that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure. The device 1005 may be an example of aspects of a basestation 105 as described herein. The device 1005 may include a receiver1010, a tentative grant manager 1015, and a transmitter 1020. The device1005 may also include a processor. Each of these components may be incommunication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

The receiver 1010 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to synchronousshared spectrum, etc.). Information may be passed on to other componentsof the device 1005. The receiver 1010 may be an example of aspects ofthe transceiver 1320 described with reference to FIG. 13. The receiver1010 may utilize a single antenna or a set of antennas.

The tentative grant manager 1015 may determine a prioritization of thefirst network OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the firstnetwork OP is higher priority than a second network OP during the firstTxOP and the second network OP is higher priority than the first networkOP during the second TxOP and transmit a tentative grant to a UE over achannel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band using resources withinthe first TxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules a downlink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP. The tentative grant manager 1015 maymonitor, during a contention window of the second TxOP, for one or morecontention messages from a device associated with the second network OPand perform the downlink data transmission based on the tentative grantand a result of the monitoring.

The tentative grant manager 1015 may also determine a prioritization ofthe first network OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the firstnetwork OP is higher priority than a second network OP during the firstTxOP and the second network OP is higher priority than the first networkOP during the second TxOP and transmit a tentative grant to a UE over achannel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band using resources withinthe first TxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules an uplink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP. The tentative grant manager 1015 mayalso monitor the set of resources of the second TxOP for the uplink datatransmission from the UE. The tentative grant manager 1015 may be anexample of aspects of the tentative grant manager 1310 described herein.

The tentative grant manager 1015, or its sub-components, may beimplemented in hardware, code (e.g., software or firmware) executed by aprocessor, or any combination thereof. If implemented in code executedby a processor, the functions of the tentative grant manager 1015, orits sub-components may be executed by a general-purpose processor, aDSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gateor transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinationthereof designed to perform the functions described in the presentdisclosure.

The tentative grant manager 1015, or its sub-components, may bephysically located at various positions, including being distributedsuch that portions of functions are implemented at different physicallocations by one or more physical components. In some examples, thetentative grant manager 1015, or its sub-components, may be a separateand distinct component in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. In some cases, the tentative grant manager 1015, or itssub-components, may be combined with one or more other hardwarecomponents, including but not limited to an I/O component, atransceiver, a network server, another computing device, one or moreother components described in the present disclosure, or a combinationthereof in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

The transmitter 1020 may transmit signals generated by other componentsof the device 1005. In some examples, the transmitter 1020 may becollocated with a receiver 1010 in a transceiver module. For example,the transmitter 1020 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver1320 described with reference to FIG. 13. The transmitter 1020 mayutilize a single antenna or a set of antennas.

FIG. 11 shows a block diagram 1100 of a device 1105 that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure. The device 1105 may be an example of aspects of a device1005 or a base station 105 as described herein. The device 1105 mayinclude a receiver 1110, a tentative grant manager 1115, and atransmitter 1140. The device 1105 may also include a processor. Each ofthese components may be in communication with one another (e.g., via oneor more buses).

The receiver 1110 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to synchronousshared spectrum, etc.). Information may be passed on to other componentsof the device 1105. The receiver 1110 may be an example of aspects ofthe transceiver 1320 described with reference to FIG. 13. The receiver1110 may utilize a single antenna or a set of antennas.

The tentative grant manager 1115 may be an example of aspects of thetentative grant manager 1015 as described herein. The tentative grantmanager 1115 may include a prioritization manager 1120, a granttransmitter 1125, a monitoring component 1130, and a downlinktransmission component 1135. The tentative grant manager 1115 may be anexample of aspects of the tentative grant manager 1310 described herein.

The prioritization manager 1120 may determine a prioritization of thefirst network OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the firstnetwork OP is higher priority than a second network OP during the firstTxOP and the second network OP is higher priority than the first networkOP during the second TxOP.

The grant transmitter 1125 may transmit a tentative grant to a UE over achannel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band using resources withinthe first TxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules a downlink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP.

The monitoring component 1130 may monitor, during a contention window ofthe second TxOP, for one or more contention messages from a deviceassociated with the second network OP.

The downlink transmission component 1135 may perform the downlink datatransmission based on the tentative grant and a result of themonitoring.

The prioritization manager 1120 may determine a prioritization of thefirst network OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the firstnetwork OP is higher priority than a second network OP during the firstTxOP and the second network OP is higher priority than the first networkOP during the second TxOP.

The grant transmitter 1125 may transmit a tentative grant to a UE over achannel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band using resources withinthe first TxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules an uplink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP.

The monitoring component 1130 may monitor the set of resources of thesecond TxOP for the uplink data transmission from the UE.

The transmitter 1140 may transmit signals generated by other componentsof the device 1105. In some examples, the transmitter 1140 may becollocated with a receiver 1110 in a transceiver module. For example,the transmitter 1140 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver1320 described with reference to FIG. 13. The transmitter 1140 mayutilize a single antenna or a set of antennas.

FIG. 12 shows a block diagram 1200 of a tentative grant manager 1205that supports synchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure. The tentative grant manager 1205 may be anexample of aspects of a tentative grant manager 1015, a tentative grantmanager 1115, or a tentative grant manager 1310 described herein. Thetentative grant manager 1205 may include a prioritization manager 1210,a grant transmitter 1215, a monitoring component 1220, a downlinktransmission component 1225, a communication component 1230, and anaccess manager 1235. Each of these modules may communicate, directly orindirectly, with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

The prioritization manager 1210 may determine a prioritization of thefirst network OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the firstnetwork OP is higher priority than a second network OP during the firstTxOP and the second network OP is higher priority than the first networkOP during the second TxOP.

In some examples, the prioritization manager 1210 may determine apriority of the second network OP for the first TxOP and the secondTxOP, where transmitting the tentative grant is based on the determinedpriority of the second network OP.

The grant transmitter 1215 may transmit a tentative grant to a UE over achannel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band using resources withinthe first TxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules a downlink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP.

In some examples, the grant transmitter 1215 may transmit a tentativegrant to a UE over a channel of a shared radio frequency spectrum bandusing resources within the first TxOP associated with tentative grantsbased on the determined prioritization, where the tentative grantschedules an uplink data transmission using the channel over a set ofresources of the second TxOP subsequent to the first TxOP. In somecases, the grant transmitter 1215 may transmit the tentative grant tothe UE after communicating with the second UE. In some aspects, thegrant transmitter 1215 may transmit the tentative grant over a reservedsymbol within the first TxOP. In some instances, the grant transmitter1215 may transmit a one-bit indicator field that conveys an indicationof the tentative grant.

The monitoring component 1220 may monitor, during a contention window ofthe second TxOP, for one or more contention messages from a deviceassociated with the second network OP.

In some examples, the monitoring component 1220 may monitor the set ofresources of the second TxOP for the uplink data transmission from theUE. In some cases, the monitoring component 1220 may determine that thesecond TxOP is available for communication based on the monitoring. Insome instances, the monitoring component 1220 may determine that thesecond TxOP is unavailable for communication based on the monitoring. Insome aspects, the monitoring component 1220 may receive the uplink datatransmission from the UE via the set of resources of the second TxOPbased on an availability of the second TxOP.

The downlink transmission component 1225 may perform the downlink datatransmission based on the tentative grant and a result of themonitoring. In some examples, the downlink transmission component 1225may transmit the downlink data transmission to the UE during the secondTxOP based on the determination that the second TxOP is available. Insome cases, the downlink transmission component 1225 may withhold thedownlink data transmission until a next TxOP.

The communication component 1230 may communicate with a second UE overresources of the first TxOP.

The access manager 1235 may gain access to communicate during the firstTxOP based on a contention-based procedure, where the tentative grant istransmitted after gaining access to communicate during the first TxOP.In some examples, the access manager 1235 may participate in acoordinated RC with one or more devices for the first TxOP. In somecases, the coordinated RC is based on a common IMR configuration.

FIG. 13 shows a diagram of a system 1300 including a device 1305 thatsupports synchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of thepresent disclosure. The device 1305 may be an example of or include thecomponents of device 1005, device 1105, or a base station 105 asdescribed herein. The device 1305 may include components forbi-directional voice and data communications including components fortransmitting and receiving communications, including a tentative grantmanager 1310, a network communications manager 1315, a transceiver 1320,an antenna 1325, memory 1330, a processor 1340, and an inter-stationcommunications manager 1345. These components may be in electroniccommunication via one or more buses (e.g., bus 1350).

The tentative grant manager 1310 may determine a prioritization of thefirst network OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the firstnetwork OP is higher priority than a second network OP during the firstTxOP and the second network OP is higher priority than the first networkOP during the second TxOP and transmit a tentative grant to a UE over achannel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band using resources withinthe first TxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules a downlink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP. The tentative grant manager 1310 maymonitor, during a contention window of the second TxOP, for one or morecontention messages from a device associated with the second network OPand perform the downlink data transmission based on the tentative grantand a result of the monitoring.

The tentative grant manager 1310 may also determine a prioritization ofthe first network OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the firstnetwork OP is higher priority than a second network OP during the firstTxOP and the second network OP is higher priority than the first networkOP during the second TxOP and transmit a tentative grant to a UE over achannel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band using resources withinthe first TxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules an uplink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP. The tentative grant manager 1310 mayalso monitor the set of resources of the second TxOP for the uplink datatransmission from the UE.

The network communications manager 1315 may manage communications withthe core network (e.g., via one or more wired backhaul links). Forexample, the network communications manager 1315 may manage the transferof data communications for client devices, such as one or more UEs 115.

The transceiver 1320 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or moreantennas, wired, or wireless links as described herein. For example, thetransceiver 1320 may represent a wireless transceiver and maycommunicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. Thetransceiver 1320 may also include a modem to modulate the packets andprovide the modulated packets to the antennas for transmission, and todemodulate packets received from the antennas.

In some cases, the wireless device may include a single antenna 1325.However, in some cases the device may have more than one antenna 1325,which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiplewireless transmissions.

The memory 1330 may include RAM, ROM, or a combination thereof. Thememory 1330 may store computer-readable code 1335 including instructionsthat, when executed by a processor (e.g., the processor 1340) cause thedevice to perform various functions described herein. In some cases, thememory 1330 may contain, among other things, a BIOS which may controlbasic hardware or software operation such as the interaction withperipheral components or devices.

The processor 1340 may include an intelligent hardware device, (e.g., ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, anFPGA, a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logiccomponent, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof).In some cases, the processor 1340 may be configured to operate a memoryarray using a memory controller. In some cases, a memory controller maybe integrated into processor 1340. The processor 1340 may be configuredto execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., thememory 1330) to cause the device 1305 to perform various functions(e.g., functions or tasks supporting synchronous shared spectrum).

The inter-station communications manager 1345 may manage communicationswith other base station 105, and may include a controller or schedulerfor controlling communications with UEs 115 in cooperation with otherbase stations 105. For example, the inter-station communications manager1345 may coordinate scheduling for transmissions to UEs 115 for variousinterference mitigation techniques such as beamforming or jointtransmission. In some examples, the inter-station communications manager1345 may provide an X2 interface within an LTE/LTE-A wirelesscommunication network technology to provide communication between basestations 105.

The code 1335 may include instructions to implement aspects of thepresent disclosure, including instructions to support wirelesscommunications. The code 1335 may be stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium such as system memory or other type of memory.In some cases, the code 1335 may not be directly executable by theprocessor 1340 but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled andexecuted) to perform functions described herein.

FIG. 14 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1400 that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure. The operations of method 1400 may be implemented by a basestation 105 or its components as described herein. For example, theoperations of method 1400 may be performed by a tentative grant manageras described with reference to FIGS. 10 through 13. In some examples, abase station may execute a set of instructions to control the functionalelements of the base station to perform the functions described herein.Additionally or alternatively, a base station may perform aspects of thefunctions described herein using special-purpose hardware.

At 1405, the base station may determine a prioritization of the firstnetwork OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the first networkOP is higher priority than a second network OP during the first TxOP andthe second network OP is higher priority than the first network OPduring the second TxOP. The operations of 1405 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects ofthe operations of 1405 may be performed by a prioritization manager asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 10 through 13.

At 1410, the base station may transmit a tentative grant to a UE over achannel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band using resources withinthe first TxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules a downlink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP. The operations of 1410 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In some examples,aspects of the operations of 1410 may be performed by a granttransmitter as described with reference to FIGS. 10 through 13.

At 1415, the base station may monitor, during a contention window of thesecond TxOP, for one or more contention messages from a deviceassociated with the second network OP. The operations of 1415 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In some examples,aspects of the operations of 1415 may be performed by a monitoringcomponent as described with reference to FIGS. 10 through 13.

At 1420, the base station may perform the downlink data transmissionbased on the tentative grant and a result of the monitoring. Theoperations of 1420 may be performed according to the methods describedherein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1420 may beperformed by a downlink transmission component as described withreference to FIGS. 10 through 13.

FIG. 15 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1500 that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure. The operations of method 1500 may be implemented by a UE 115or its components as described herein. For example, the operations ofmethod 1500 may be performed by a tentative grant manager as describedwith reference to FIGS. 6 through 9. In some examples, a UE may executea set of instructions to control the functional elements of the UE toperform the functions described herein. Additionally or alternatively, aUE may perform aspects of the functions described herein usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At 1505, the UE may receive a tentative grant from a base stationassociated with a first network OP over a channel of a shared radiofrequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOP associatedwith tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules a downlinkdata transmission using the channel over a set of resources of a secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP. The operations of 1505 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In some examples,aspects of the operations of 1505 may be performed by a grant receiveras described with reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

At 1510, the UE may monitor the set of resources of the second TxOP forthe downlink data transmission from the base station, where the set ofresources is indicated by the tentative grant. The operations of 1510may be performed according to the methods described herein. In someexamples, aspects of the operations of 1510 may be performed by amonitor as described with reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1600 that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure. The operations of method 1600 may be implemented by a basestation 105 or its components as described herein. For example, theoperations of method 1600 may be performed by a tentative grant manageras described with reference to FIGS. 10 through 13. In some examples, abase station may execute a set of instructions to control the functionalelements of the base station to perform the functions described herein.Additionally or alternatively, a base station may perform aspects of thefunctions described herein using special-purpose hardware.

At 1605, the base station may determine a prioritization of the firstnetwork OP for a first TxOP and a second TxOP, where the first networkOP is higher priority than a second network OP during the first TxOP andthe second network OP is higher priority than the first network OPduring the second TxOP. The operations of 1605 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects ofthe operations of 1605 may be performed by a prioritization manager asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 10 through 13.

At 1610, the base station may transmit a tentative grant to a UE over achannel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band using resources withinthe first TxOP associated with tentative grants based on the determinedprioritization, where the tentative grant schedules an uplink datatransmission using the channel over a set of resources of the secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP. The operations of 1610 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In some examples,aspects of the operations of 1610 may be performed by a granttransmitter as described with reference to FIGS. 10 through 13.

At 1615, the base station may monitor the set of resources of the secondTxOP for the uplink data transmission from the UE. The operations of1615 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In someexamples, aspects of the operations of 1615 may be performed by amonitoring component as described with reference to FIGS. 10 through 13.

FIG. 17 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1700 that supportssynchronous shared spectrum in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure. The operations of method 1700 may be implemented by a UE 115or its components as described herein. For example, the operations ofmethod 1700 may be performed by a tentative grant manager as describedwith reference to FIGS. 6 through 9. In some examples, a UE may executea set of instructions to control the functional elements of the UE toperform the functions described herein. Additionally or alternatively, aUE may perform aspects of the functions described herein usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At 1705, the UE may receive a tentative grant from a base stationassociated with a first network OP over a channel of a shared radiofrequency spectrum band using resources within a first TxOP associatedwith tentative grants, where the tentative grant schedules an uplinkdata transmission using the channel over a set of resources of a secondTxOP subsequent to the first TxOP. The operations of 1705 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In some examples,aspects of the operations of 1705 may be performed by a grant receiveras described with reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

At 1710, the UE may monitor, during a contention window of the secondTxOP, for one or more contention messages from a device associated witha second network OP. The operations of 1710 may be performed accordingto the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of theoperations of 1710 may be performed by a monitor as described withreference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

At 1715, the UE may perform the uplink data transmission based on thetentative grant and a result of the monitoring. The operations of 1715may be performed according to the methods described herein. In someexamples, aspects of the operations of 1715 may be performed by anuplink transmission component as described with reference to FIGS. 6through 9.

It should be noted that the methods described herein describe possibleimplementations, and that the operations and the steps may be rearrangedor otherwise modified and that other implementations are possible.Further, aspects from two or more of the methods may be combined.

Techniques described herein may be used for various wirelesscommunications systems such as code division multiple access (CDMA),time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access(FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), singlecarrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), and other systems.A CDMA system may implement a radio technology such as CDMA2000,Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), etc. CDMA2000 covers IS-2000,IS-95, and IS-856 standards. IS-2000 Releases may be commonly referredto as CDMA2000 1×, 1×, etc. IS-856 (TIA-856) is commonly referred to asCDMA2000 1×EV-DO, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), etc. UTRA includesWideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. A TDMA system mayimplement a radio technology such as Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM).

An OFDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Ultra MobileBroadband (UMB), E-UTRA, Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20,Flash-OFDM, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS). LTE, LTE-A, and LTE-A Pro are releasesof UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR,and GSM are described in documents from the organization named “3rdGeneration Partnership Project” (3GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are describedin documents from an organization named “3rd Generation PartnershipProject 2” (3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for thesystems and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other systemsand radio technologies. While aspects of an LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NRsystem may be described for purposes of example, and LTE, LTE-A, LTE-APro, or NR terminology may be used in much of the description, thetechniques described herein are applicable beyond LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro,or NR applications.

A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g.,several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs115 with service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cellmay be associated with a lower-powered base station 105, as comparedwith a macro cell, and a small cell may operate in the same or different(licensed, unlicensed, etc.) frequency bands as macro cells. Small cellsmay include pico cells, femto cells, and micro cells according tovarious examples. A pico cell, for example, may cover a small geographicarea and may allow unrestricted access by UEs 115 with servicesubscriptions with the network provider. A femto cell may also cover asmall geographic area (e.g., a home) and may provide restricted accessby UEs 115 having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs 115 in aclosed subscriber group (CSG), UEs 115 for users in the home, and thelike). An eNB for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro eNB. An eNBfor a small cell may be referred to as a small cell eNB, a pico eNB, afemto eNB, or a home eNB. An eNB may support one or multiple (e.g., two,three, four, and the like) cells, and may also support communicationsusing one or multiple CCs.

The wireless communications systems 100 or 200 or systems describedherein may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. Forsynchronous operation, the base stations 105 may have similar frametiming, and transmissions from different base stations 105 may beapproximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the basestations 105 may have different frame timing, and transmissions fromdifferent base stations 105 may not be aligned in time. The techniquesdescribed herein may be used for either synchronous or asynchronousoperations.

Information and signals described herein may be represented using any ofa variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data,instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chipsthat may be referenced throughout the above description may berepresented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magneticfields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combinationthereof.

The various illustrative blocks and modules described in connection withthe disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmablelogic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardwarecomponents, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor,but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or moremicroprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration).

The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, softwareexecuted by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. Ifimplemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may bestored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are withinthe scope of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to thenature of software, functions described herein can be implemented usingsoftware executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, orcombinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may alsobe physically located at various positions, including being distributedsuch that portions of functions are implemented at different physicallocations.

Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storagemedia and communication media including any medium that facilitatestransfer of a computer program from one place to another. Anon-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way ofexample, and not limitation, non-transitory computer-readable media mayinclude RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flashmemory, compact disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othernon-transitory medium that can be used to carry or store desired programcode means in the form of instructions or data structures and that canbe accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or ageneral-purpose or special-purpose processor.

Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. Forexample, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or otherremote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair,digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such asinfrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber opticcable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared,radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk anddisc, as used herein, include CD, laser disc, optical disc, digitalversatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usuallyreproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically withlasers. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

As used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items(e.g., a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as “at least one of” or“one or more of”) indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, alist of at least one of A, B, or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BCor ABC (i.e., A and B and C). Also, as used herein, the phrase “basedon” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of conditions.For example, an exemplary step that is described as “based on conditionA” may be based on both a condition A and a condition B withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, asused herein, the phrase “based on” shall be construed in the same manneras the phrase “based at least in part on.”

In the appended figures, similar components or features may have thesame reference label. Further, various components of the same type maybe distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If just the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label, or othersubsequent reference label.

The description set forth herein, in connection with the appendeddrawings, describes example configurations and does not represent allthe examples that may be implemented or that are within the scope of theclaims. The term “exemplary” used herein means “serving as an example,instance, or illustration,” and not “preferred” or “advantageous overother examples.” The detailed description includes specific details forthe purpose of providing an understanding of the described techniques.These techniques, however, may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of thedescribed examples.

The description herein is provided to enable a person skilled in the artto make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosurewill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the genericprinciples defined herein may be applied to other variations withoutdeparting from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is notlimited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to beaccorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for wireless communications at a basestation associated with a first network operator, comprising:determining a prioritization of the first network operator for a firsttransmission opportunity and a second transmission opportunity, whereinthe first network operator is higher priority than a second networkoperator during the first transmission opportunity and the secondnetwork operator is higher priority than the first network operatorduring the second transmission opportunity; performing a contentionbased procedure during a contention window of the first transmissionopportunity to gain access to a channel during the first transmissionopportunity; transmitting, to a user equipment (UE) associated with thefirst network operator over the channel of a shared radio frequencyspectrum band and after gaining access to the channel, a first downlinkdata transmission using a first set of resources within the firsttransmission opportunity based at least in part on performing thecontention based procedure and a tentative grant using a second set ofresources within the first transmission opportunity associated withtentative grants based at least in part on the determinedprioritization, wherein the tentative grant schedules a second downlinkdata transmission using the channel over a third set of resources of thesecond transmission opportunity subsequent to the first transmissionopportunity; monitoring, during a contention window of the secondtransmission opportunity, for one or more contention messages from adevice associated with the second network operator; and performing thedownlink data transmission based at least in part on the tentative grantand a result of the monitoring.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining that the second transmission opportunity isavailable for communication based at least in part on the monitoring;and transmitting the second downlink data transmission to the UE duringthe second transmission opportunity based at least in part on thedetermination that the second transmission opportunity is available. 3.The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining that the secondtransmission opportunity is unavailable for communication based at leastin part on the monitoring; and withholding the second downlink datatransmission until a next transmission opportunity.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: communicating with a second UE over thefirst set of resources of the first transmission opportunity; andtransmitting the tentative grant to the UE after communicating with thesecond UE.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: participatingin a coordinated rate control with one or more devices for the firsttransmission opportunity.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein thecoordinated rate control is based at least in part on a commoninterference management resource (IMR) configuration.
 7. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the coordinated rate control is indicated by aplurality of coordinated rate control signals.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising: transmitting the tentative grant over a reservedsymbol within the first transmission opportunity.
 9. The method of claim1, wherein transmitting the tentative grant comprises: transmitting aone-bit indicator field that conveys an indication of the tentativegrant.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the tentative grant comprisesa tentative transmitter identifier (ID), a tentative receiver ID, atentative set of radio resources, a clear channel assessment (CCA)threshold, a plurality of coordinated rate control signals, a rankthreshold, a channel quality indication (CQI) threshold, orhybrid-automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback information, or anycombination thereof.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining a priority of the second network operator for the firsttransmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity,wherein transmitting the tentative grant is based at least in part onthe determined priority of the second network operator.
 12. A method forwireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving,from a base station associated with a first network operator over achannel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band, a first downlink datatransmission using a first set of resources within a first transmissionopportunity and a tentative grant using a second set of resources withinthe first transmission opportunity associated with tentative grants,wherein the tentative grant schedules a second downlink datatransmission using the channel over a third set of resources of a secondtransmission opportunity subsequent to the first transmissionopportunity, wherein the UE is associated with the first networkoperator; and monitoring the third set of resources of the secondtransmission opportunity for the second downlink data transmission fromthe base station, wherein the third set of resources is indicated by thetentative grant.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein monitoring the setof resources comprises: receiving the second downlink data transmissionfrom the base station during the second transmission opportunity basedat least in part on an availability of the second transmissionopportunity.
 14. The method of claim 12, further comprising: determininga prioritization of the first network operator for the firsttransmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity,wherein the first network operator is higher priority than a secondnetwork operator during the first transmission opportunity and thesecond network operator is higher priority than the first networkoperator during the second transmission opportunity.
 15. The method ofclaim 12, wherein receiving the tentative grant comprises: receiving aone-bit indicator field that conveys an indication of the tentativegrant.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein the tentative grant comprisesa tentative transmitter identifier (ID), a tentative receiver ID, atentative set of radio resources, a clear channel assessment (CCA)threshold, a plurality of coordinated rate control signals, a rankthreshold, a channel quality indication (CQI) threshold, orhybrid-automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback information, or anycombination thereof.
 17. An apparatus for wireless communications at abase station associated with a first network operator, comprising: aprocessor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored inthe memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:determine a prioritization of the first network operator for a firsttransmission opportunity and a second transmission opportunity, whereinthe first network operator is higher priority than a second networkoperator during the first transmission opportunity and the secondnetwork operator is higher priority than the first network operatorduring the second transmission opportunity; perform a contention basedprocedure during a contention window of the first transmissionopportunity to gain access to a channel during the first transmissionopportunity; transmit, to a user equipment (UE) associated with thefirst network operator over the channel of a shared radio frequencyspectrum band and after gaining access to the channel, a first downlinkdata transmission using a first set of resources within the firsttransmission opportunity based at least in part on performing thecontention based procedure and a tentative grant using a second setresources within the first transmission opportunity associated withtentative grants based at least in part on the determinedprioritization, wherein the tentative grant schedules a second downlinkdata transmission using the channel over a third set of resources of thesecond transmission opportunity subsequent to the first transmissionopportunity; monitor, during a contention window of the secondtransmission opportunity, for one or more contention messages from adevice associated with the second network operator; and perform thedownlink data transmission based at least in part on the tentative grantand a result of the monitoring.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17, whereinthe instructions are further executable by the processor to cause theapparatus to: determine that the second transmission opportunity isavailable for communication based at least in part on the monitoring;and transmit the second downlink data transmission to the UE during thesecond transmission opportunity based at least in part on thedetermination that the second transmission opportunity is available. 19.The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the instructions are furtherexecutable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: determine thatthe second transmission opportunity is unavailable for communicationbased at least in part on the monitoring; and withhold the seconddownlink data transmission until a next transmission opportunity. 20.The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the instructions are furtherexecutable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: communicate witha second UE over the first set of resources of the first transmissionopportunity; and transmit the tentative grant to the UE aftercommunicating with the second UE.
 21. The apparatus of claim 17, whereinthe instructions are further executable by the processor to cause theapparatus to: transmit the tentative grant over a reserved symbol withinthe first transmission opportunity.
 22. The apparatus of claim 17,wherein the instructions to transmit the tentative grant are executableby the processor to cause the apparatus to: transmit a one-bit indicatorfield that conveys an indication of the tentative grant.
 23. Theapparatus of claim 17, wherein the tentative grant comprises a tentativetransmitter identifier (ID), a tentative receiver ID, a tentative set ofradio resources, a clear channel assessment (CCA) threshold, a pluralityof coordinated rate control signals, a rank threshold, a channel qualityindication (CQI) threshold, or hybrid-automatic repeat request (HARQ)feedback information, or any combination thereof.
 24. An apparatus forwireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising: aprocessor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored inthe memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:receive, from a base station associated with a first network operatorover a channel of a shared radio frequency spectrum band, a firstdownlink data transmission using a first set of resources within a firsttransmission opportunity and a tentative grant using a second setresources within the first transmission opportunity associated withtentative grants, wherein the tentative grant schedules a seconddownlink data transmission using the channel over a third set ofresources of a second transmission opportunity subsequent to the firsttransmission opportunity, wherein the UE is associated with the firstnetwork operator; and monitor the third set of resources of the secondtransmission opportunity for the second downlink data transmission fromthe base station, wherein the third set of resources is indicated by thetentative grant.
 25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the instructionsto monitor the set of resources are executable by the processor to causethe apparatus to: receive the second downlink data transmission from thebase station during the second transmission opportunity based at leastin part on an availability of the second transmission opportunity. 26.The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the instructions are furtherexecutable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: determine aprioritization of the first network operator for the first transmissionopportunity and the second transmission opportunity, wherein the firstnetwork operator is higher priority than a second network operatorduring the first transmission opportunity and the second networkoperator is higher priority than the first network operator during thesecond transmission opportunity.
 27. The apparatus of claim 24, whereinthe instructions to receive the tentative grant are executable by theprocessor to cause the apparatus to: receive a one-bit indicator fieldthat conveys an indication of the tentative grant.
 28. The apparatus ofclaim 24, wherein the tentative grant comprises a tentative transmitteridentifier (ID), a tentative receiver ID, a tentative set of radioresources, a clear channel assessment (CCA) threshold, a plurality ofcoordinated rate control signals, a rank threshold, a channel qualityindication (CQI) threshold, or hybrid-automatic repeat request (HARQ)feedback information, or any combination thereof.